Four American tech companies were in the top five in a list from the European Brand Institute that studied more than 3,000 branded corporations in 24 countries.

Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Google Inc. and IBM were one, three, four and five, respectively, on the list. Coca-Cola Co. was No. 2.

Thirty-nine American companies made the list of 100, of that 39 eight are tech companies, the most of any industry of the listed U.S. companies, followed by seven each from consumer goods and financial service companies.

But from following the news in our 24-hour compulsive news cycle, one might conclude that U.S. corporations are not very popular right now. However the numbers from the story pretty much tell a different story.

Besides, why do I get the feeling that in the pockets of most of those sign holders and drummers at the “occupy” protests, is an iPhone or similar smart or cell phone?

You might even wonder how many of those poster board signs and Sharpies used on them came from a Wal-Mart or Target super store.

I bet if you followed the coverage close enough you will discover dozens of digital cameras and tablets that are being used at the protests by those blogging about their repression. Anyone I can bum an American Spirit off of?